Local Haven promoter 'devastated' by theft

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A brazen thief made off with nearly $2,800 in cash, as well as checks and money orders belonging to local producer Sara Zahn, who books music and other events at Nevada City’s Haven Underground.

“It’s pretty much devastated me financially (and) personally,” Zahn said Thursday. “I’m in despair … Now we don’t have rent.”

Zahn posted news of the theft on Facebook Thursday morning, saying that it happened some time between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Zahn, she got to Haven Underground in the 200 block of Broad Street at about 3:15 p.m., then locked up again before leaving to put up some posters and grab some coffee before a scheduled appointment at 4 p.m.

“When I left, I made sure the doors were locked,” she wrote.

But in the interim, a young woman had opened up the space to prepare for an African dance class and said she had gotten there at about 4:15 p.m.

“Sometime between the time she arrived and before I returned, she claims a man in his late 30s (or) early 40s, wearing a hat, with shoulder-length brown curly hair who claimed to be looking for me came downstairs, wandered around a bit, and then left,” Zahn wrote.

Her bag was where she had left it, but missing were two checks totaling more than $500 made out to The Hive Collective, a money order addressed to Zahn for $350, $285 in cash bundled with paperwork from the BriarPatch Co-op for concert pre-sales and a black and gold houndstooth makeup bag with about $1,200 in cash.

“Normally I don’t carry this much cash around with me, but I intended to go to the bank to make a deposit after my meeting,” Zahn wrote in her Facebook post. “In light of all of this money being stolen, I am flat broke. I have about $30 to my name. And the Haven is at a major loss. While I did file a police report, there isn’t much they can do.”

Nevada City Police Sgt. Paul Rohde confirmed there was an open investigation but said there were no suspects at this time.

The suspect could have had a key, Zahn said, adding that because there have been a lot of classes and rentals within the space, “unfortunately, there are quite a few keys floating around out there.”

She noted that the thief apparently took posters out of a paper bag and used it to stash the stolen goods.

Zahn said Thursday she was working to track down any surveillance video that might exist and encouraged anyone with information to reach out on Facebook or via havenunderground@gmail.com or to send tips anonymously using her contact form at http://havenunder ground.org/contact/.